Frenchmen Street in New Orleans is renowned for its vibrant and tightly-knit community, a place where collaboration and camaraderie are as common as the infectious rhythms spilling from its numerous venues. Curtis Casados, a bartender with years of experience at various Frenchmen Street establishments, including the iconic Spotted Cat, has long observed this unique interconnectedness. He describes Frenchmen Street as “just a big large family,” where borrowing and lending between venues is commonplace, fostering a spirit of mutual support. This sense of community extends deeply into the music scene, where musicians frequently collaborate and venues work together, creating an atmosphere unlike anywhere else.
This spirit of cooperation is perfectly illustrated in a story shared by Hannah Kreiger-Benson, a local pianist deeply embedded in the Frenchmen Street music scene. One evening, while playing a set at the venue 3090, her band experienced a quintessential “only-on-Frenchmen” moment. Mid-gig, a representative from Cafe Negril, another music hotspot just down the block, rushed in with an urgent request. Their scheduled band for the 7-10 PM slot had unexpectedly cancelled. Knowing the close proximity and collaborative nature of Frenchmen Street, they reached out to Hannah’s band, asking if they could extend their musical talents to Cafe Negril immediately after their 3090 set, ensuring Negril wouldn’t face a completely music-less evening. Without hesitation, Hannah and her band agreed, embracing the spontaneous and supportive ethos of Frenchmen Street.
The close physical proximity of venues on Frenchmen Street is key to these kinds of interactions, effectively creating one large, interconnected entertainment ecosystem. As Hannah recounts, “We finished at 30*90, and then did this like goofy running-down-the-street-with-our-gear parade.” Instead of a formal pack-up, they opted for a quick gear relocation, carrying instruments and stands down the street in a comical procession to minimize downtime and quickly set up at Cafe Negril. However, upon arrival at Negril, they encountered a minor technical hiccup – a shortage of microphone cables. In true Frenchmen Street fashion, the solution was a quick cross-venue collaboration. Since Cafe Negril and the Spotted Cat are under the same management, a swift delegation was dispatched to the Spotted Cat, diagonally across the street, to borrow a mic cable.
Hannah herself joined the impromptu mission, and found herself navigating the bustling Spotted Cat mid-performance. “There was a band in full swing, I think it was Panorama, and I literally crawled in front of the low stage, to rummage in the bin of spare cables on the floor.” This resulted in a humorous and very Frenchmen Street encounter with Ben Schenck, Panorama’s clarinetist and bandleader. As Hannah scrambled for cables at his feet, she recalls a bemused Ben Schenck observing this “undignified nonsense on the floor” with amusement and recognition of the typical Frenchmen Street hustle. Cable secured, Hannah’s band successfully played a lively set at Cafe Negril, turning a potential music void into a seamless continuation of the Frenchmen Street musical flow. This anecdote perfectly encapsulates the unique interconnectedness of Frenchmen Street, where venues, musicians, and even equipment are shared resources within a larger, supportive community, with the Spotted Cat playing its integral part in this vibrant ecosystem.
